


brave by reflection

by ivelostmyspectacles



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Early in Canon, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Link (Legend of Zelda) Uses Sign Language, Loneliness, gentle teasing, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: And he raises his hands to rest where they can reach, on his torso, and stays so very still as he threatens to fall to pieces. For a second, for this second, he’ll let someone else help hold those pieces together.“I understand why my sister was so very fond of you, Link,” Sidon says, after the quiet lengthens. “It is no small wonder, after all.”





	brave by reflection

**Author's Note:**

> General setting being that Zora's Domain was Link's first stop on his journey to calm the Beasts, so he's still getting used to all this destiny stuff... and he's still very much alone ✌

“Link! We’ve prepared the bath just for you!”

Sidon is as enthusiastic as always, and Link drags himself upright from where he’s slouching against the wall. He’s appreciative, he really is. Ruta had been dust and death and malice, and he can feel it still clinging to his body, seeping between the joints in the armor and settling into his bones. He can feel Mipha, too, her Grace, lingering new beneath his skin. Familiar and comforting in a way he hasn’t felt since waking up, but, at the end of the day… he’s cold, and wet, and _tired._ It’s a struggle to stay on his feet, but Sidon is looking at him like he’s the whole world, and Link can’t help but push forth with the extra effort. There will be time to rest later.

Besides, he is caked in dirt and grime and ooze from creatures he doesn’t want to think too hard about, and even the water from the lake couldn’t wash away the corruption he’d felt from Ganon. A bath sounds… heavenly.

“We have a special bathing area for our guests, although I confess it doesn’t get used very often. We’ve tempered it for how we thought a Hylian would enjoy it, but do tell me if it’s not to your liking!”

It’ll be fine, he thinks but doesn’t remark. Instead, Link just smiles and nods, the short bob of his head up and down. He ignores that it feels heavy, like his eyelids, and following Sidon to the bathing chambers seems an endless task. His feet are heavy. He keeps walking, because everyone is watching him, and because Sidon is still chatting away, a hand at his shoulder in a comforting touch, and Link doesn’t realize he’s staggering into it until he does.

“Oh! Link!”

He snaps back to full consciousness– insofar as much as he can, right now– and offers a sheepish smile. Raises his fist to his chest and rotates it clockwise, and that feels tiring, too. _Sorry._

Sidon’s already opening his mouth to speak, but Link cuts him off with a sharp, short movement of hands. He suddenly can’t hold back the words any longer, now that the initial apology’s fallen from his fingers. _I’m sorry about Mipha. I’m sorry I couldn’t save her,_ and Sidon tilts his head as he watches Link sign.

They have a communication gap, but Sidon’s _trying._ He’s a quick study, and the basics are there. Link’s grateful he’s taken the time at all, but now it feels horribly bereft because he has so much he needs to say that the prince will not understand. And Link is cold and wet and tired and _lonely,_ although he won’t admit it and although Sidon will forever be a friend, and he’s _frustrated._ Sad. He’s sad, and Mipha’s Grace burns hot inside of him.

“Don’t apologize, Link,” Sidon says cheerfully. There’s sadness in him, too, though. Link doesn’t want to see it, but he seems fine-tuned to that kind of thing these days. “You freed my sister! And Ruta too. And now maybe they’ll be able to help you. That’s what she would have wanted.”

 _I wanted to bring her back._ He’s well and truly miserable, and his hands shake as he moves them. Pain from one hundred years ago, and now, and he can barely hold his own demons at bay let alone stop Ganon’s from ravaging Hyrule. But he must. So he will, even as his body aches and his eyes sting.

“Bring…” Sidon’s trying to figure out the sentence. Recognition a moment later is replaced with that same, old gentle sadness. “Oh, but you’re not at fault. Father and I have known for some time that she would not return. But one hundred years ago or now, we know you would do everything to protect her. And each time you have! You’ve given all you have. It’s truly magnificent.”

He doesn’t _feel_ magnificent. He feels the memories, and he feels the fatigue, and he feels Mipha and the weight of the world on his shoulders. _I should have tried ha–_ he starts to sign, but Sidon’s hands enclose around both of his and prevents their movement. Nearly, he wants to shake them off and continue apologizing, but he holds himself still.

“You have freed Ruta of the Calamity’s blight, and freed my sister’s soul in the process. You have given us _all_ we could ask for, Link. I couldn’t have hoped to find a better Hylian– or a better friend– than you.”

The words are dangerous, in this state. Link can barely listen, barely hear them to believe them, and barely look at the Zora prince as he speaks so furtively. Then, the glaze of tears comes awash over his vision, and Link has to turn his head away before he can let them fall.

“Link…” Sidon all but folds to kneel in front of him, and then loops an arm around his shoulders to pull him in. Link grits his teeth to brace for it; even in this position, their height difference is laughable, and Sidon is _strong–_ the first time he’d shaken his hand, Link’s arm had hurt for days– but it’s needless, because the hug is endlessly gentle, even as dwarfed by the man he is.

It’s rare, lately, that Link allows himself to relax these days, but he slumps against Sidon to rest his forehead against him only then. And raises his hands to rest where they can reach, on his torso, and stays so very still as he threatens to fall to pieces. For a second, for this second, he’ll let someone else help hold those pieces together.

“I understand why my sister was so very fond of you, Link,” Sidon says, after the quiet lengthens. “It is no small wonder, after all.”

Link huffs a tiny, breathless laugh. It’s barely more than a puff of air but it’s _something,_ something to chase away the blackest of moods, and he taps three fingers against Sidon’s chest. The Zora lets go immediately, and Link staggers back a half step to sign _are you making a joke about my height?_ It’s his own subtle joke, but he can sign it with a smile. A small one.

“Ah… a… I’m not familiar with the words. Something about joking, I think?”

He assents with a nod, and then gestures instead of signs. First at himself, and then makes a motion for ‘small.’ Sidon’s eyes light up in recognition, and then he laughs.

“Yes, you are very small, Link!” he laughs. “But the best things come in small packages, let’s not forget!”

Before Link can protest, Sidon winds an arm around his midsection and hoists him up. He goes with a tiny gasp of surprise and the engrained urge to squirm free, but it’s a familiar thing as Sidon settles him atop one of his shoulders to carry him. It’s still a little jarring, this height, but Sidon _has_ proven he knows how to catch him if he falls. He trusts him anyway.

“Allow me to escort you to the baths. I’ll be sure you have several days of rest and relaxation before continuing your journey– I _insist,”_ Sidon says, right about the moment Link starts to protest. “I do not know what trials you undertook inside of the Divine Beast, but the least we can do is afford you this luxury for it.”

He makes sure Sidon is looking at him when he signs back, as playful now as he can manage, _a prince’s orders?_

Sidon smiles, all pointy teeth and radiating positivity. “Of course! You have no chance of skipping out on my hospitality, Link. I ask that you don’t even _try.”_

It’s teasing, but with an underlying seriousness that Link can still hear. Sidon is _worried–_ for him, even. After everything… well, it’s a bizarre concept. But Link smiles back, because it’s a nice one. He decides to get comfortable on Sidon’s shoulder. He is, as he has been, in for the long haul.

Perhaps, like this, it won’t be as terrible as it seems. Link pushes his hair out of his eyes as the breeze blows it, wind cool and damp here in the domain, and lets himself believe, too.

 

 _"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection."_ –– Thomas Paine

  



End file.
